The first movie to be commercially released on DVD format in the United States was “Twister.” However, titles like “Blade Runner” and “The Fugitive” were released with the first DVD players in Japan before DVDs hit the domestic U.S. market.
The Assassin, Blade Runner, Eraser, and The Fugitive were the first movies on DVD, released exclusively in Japan on December 20, 1996. Many have claimed Twister was the first, but this isn't accurate. The format initially launched in Japan in November 1996, predominantly focused on music video releases.
The first DVD player is claimed to have been created by the Japanese electronics vendor Toshiba in November 1996, and the first to be released to US customers is claimed to have been by Sony in April 1997. Some manufacturers originally announced that DVD players would be available as early as the middle of 1996.
VHS rentals were surpassed by DVD in the United States in 2003 and eventually became the preferred low-end method of movie distribution. For home recording purposes, VHS and VCRs were surpassed by (typically hard disk–based) digital video recorders (DVR) in the 2000s.
DVD prices fell by 31% in the US between 2000 and 2004, from $22 to $15, declining slightly less in the UK from 16 UK pounds in 2000 to 12 pounds in 2004 (24%).
VHS tapes were introduced in 1977 and lasted till 2010 or so. That is about 33 years. DVDs came around in 1997 and are still being produced. That is 23 years.
In 2001, DVD players outsold VCRs for the first time in the United States. At this time 1 in 4 American households owned a DVD player. By 2007, about 80% of Americans owned a DVD player, a figure that had surpassed VCRs and was also higher than personal computers or cable television.
And as demand for DVDs has plummeted, video streaming has risen in its place. Subscriptions to services like Netflix have increased from 39 million worldwide in 2011 to 1.2 billion today—almost swallowing the DVD industry whole.
The last Hollywood movie to be released in VHS format was “A History of Violence.” This movie came out on VHS in 2006 and in addition to being the last movie released in the nostalgic format, it also got decent reviews. “A History of Violence” was directed by David Cronenberg and starred Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris.
FIRST FILM EVER RELEASED ON VHS: THE YOUNG TEACHER
The South Korean drama, The Young Teacher, was the first film to be released for home VHS consumption. Considering the first VCRs were released in 1976, it makes perfect sense that the first movies would also accompany it in the same year.
In 2003, the VHS began to die off the market, overcome by DVD sales and online rentals. What was once a progressive icon became a tech dinosaur—the fate of so many inventions. The final movie produced in VHS format was “A History in Violence,” which debuted in 2006.
1978. A precursor to DVDs was released for the public called LaserDisc. Not many folks bought it because it was way too expensive. Distribution was also a problem.
The first DVD that Netflix ever shipped? “Beetlejuice” on March 10, 1998. (Tim Burton's frighteningly fun 1988 comedy starred Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Catherine O'Hara and a then-teenaged Winona Ryder, who would star decades later in the original Netflix series “Stranger Things.”)
The rise of digital streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video has significantly impacted the popularity of physical media like Blu-ray. With the convenience and accessibility offered by streaming services, traditional formats like Blu-ray are experiencing a decline in demand.
While the physical media business has been in freefall over the last decade, THR is reporting that DVDs and Blu-rays might be making a comeback similar to those experienced by CDs and Vinyl Records.
The physical experience is still king (plus, bonus content) For the same reasons that people are still buying vinyl, CDs and cassette tapes, they're also buying Blu-rays and DVDs — it's the nostalgic experience.
How to digitize your DVDs. If you haven't subscribed to one of the best streaming services yet, now might be the time: Multiple sources now claim that Best Buy will take Blu-rays and DVDs off store shelves and its online store in 2024.
The first movie to be commercially released on DVD format in the United States was “Twister.” However, titles like “Blade Runner” and “The Fugitive” were released with the first DVD players in Japan before DVDs hit the domestic U.S. market. At the early origin of DVDs, the format was still more expensive than VHS.
Streaming is a popular way to consume media these days, and DVD sales have declined by 86% since 2008. Curiously, many stores fill their shelves with DVDs and Blu-rays, and Technicolor Home Entertainment Services plans to ship as many as 750 million discs in 2022.
VHS VCR and Player production ended in 2016. There are still blank VHS tapes available, but the lest major commercial movie released on VHS was A History of Violence in 2006.
Seems VHS isn't dead yet, and no one is putting these babies in the corner anymore. Also, some VHS tapes are worth a lot more than $5.00 as a mint condition copy of "Back to the Future" sold at an auction for $75,000 in 2022 while a 1985 tape of "The Goonies" sold for $50,000.
It's true, not even your tape technology is invincible from bacteria, dust, oxide shedding, and deterioration. But when do you need to start worrying about such problems with your VHS tapes? On average, tapes degrade 10-20% over 10 to 25 years.
